Constitutional Court Architectural Artworks Programme

"History" a sculpture by Dumile Feni, is situated outside the entrance of the new building. Funds to enlarge and recast the sculpture were provided through South Africa Partners

After the creation of South Africa's Constitutional Court in 1994, the Justices of the Court, along with President Nelson Mandela and the Constitutional Assembly, focused their attention on the historic task of writing and implementing the new Constitution of South Africa, regarded as the most progressive in the world.

Having established itself, the Court turned some of its attention to the construction of a permanent home. The Justices selected the Old Fort prison in Johannesburg as the site for the new building. The prison complex once symbolized the worst of the old apartheid regime and the only prison in the world to have held Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi as well as countless other political prisoners - would now be viewed worldwide as an unparalleled beacon of hope. The Court building is a particularly poignant historical monument; its creation can be viewed in the same hallowed perspective as the founding of the United Nations. It was upon this principal that the Constitutional Court decided that the new building should itself be a piece of art that represents the post-apartheid spirit of the emerging nation in all its diversity.

SA Partners, in partnership with Artists for a New South Africa in Los Angeles and beCause Global Consulting in New York, assisted Justice Albie Sachs, Chair of the Constitutional Court Artworks, to raise funds to support the purchase and commission of the artworks which have been incorporated into the new building.

On March 21, 2004, South Africa opened the doors to the new home of its Constitutional Court. The Court building, the most impressive public building project since South Africa's democratic election, does more than tell South Africa's story. It is an inspiring embodiment of the ideals of the South African Constitution, a place where visitors can experience South Africa's transition to democracy, observe the process by which freedom is now protected and learn how South Africa is building the future on its past.

SA Partners was fortunate to lead a delegation that attended the opening of the new building. Janet Axelrod, SA Partners Board member, participated in the delegation and wrote,

Hope is the gift South Africa continues to bestow upon the rest of us. This hope takes on solid form in the new Constitutional Court building's design and construction, as it is a structure very obviously meant to be USED by South Africa's people. I have returned to the US with a refreshed sense of what can be accomplished against seemingly impossible odds, as well as a fuller understanding of the enormous work yet to be done in South Africa. The importance of SA Partners' purpose has never been clearer to me, nor more compelling.

Justice Albie Sachs

Albert (Albie) Louis Sachs was born of Immigrant Lithuanian-Jewish parents in Johannesburg in 1935. As a civil rights lawyer, activist and political dissident, he was detained twice without trial and, in 1966, went into exile. As a leading member of the African National Congress, he was targeted as a "race traitor" by the apartheid security forces who, in 1988, planted a car bomb in Maputo, Mozambique in an attempt to assassinate him. Thankfully, Albie survived, but he lost part of his right arm, and the sight in one eye. Undeterred, he went on to take an active role in the negotiations for a new constitution and was passionate in ensuring that the New South Africa would cultivate a culture of respect for human rights. He was appointed to South Africa's first Constitutional Court by then President Nelson Mandela, and he continues to serve as a Justice. Additionally, Justice Sachs is heading the Architectural Artworks Programme for the New South African Constitutional Court.

Link to Constitutional Court:
http://www.concourt.gov.za/

Link to Artists for a New South Africa:
http://www.ansafrica.org

Link to beCause Global Consulting
http://www.because.net